shillings, do you see? half the cash down and half on delivery. We'd
send your friend a dozen at twelve and six, and if he didn't shell out
the other thirty bob on delivery, we'd still have the thirty bob he paid
down to cover our loss. Do you twig?"

Durfy laughed. "Do you dream all these things," he said, "or how do you
ever think of them?"

"Genius, my boy; genius," said Mr Medlock. "Of course," he added, "it
couldn't run for long, but we might give it a turn for a month or two."

"The worst of it is," put in Mr Shanklin, "it's a ticklish sort of
business that some people are uncommon sharp at smelling out; one has to
be very careful. There's the advertisement, for instance. You'll have
to smuggle it into the _Rocket_, my boy. It wouldn't do for the
governors to see it; they'd be up to it. But they'd never see it after
it was in, and the _Rocket's_ just the paper for us."

"I'll try and manage that," said Durfy. "You give it me, and I'll stick
it in with a batch of others somehow."

"Alf thinks we'd better do the thing from Liverpool," continued Mr
Medlock, "and all we want is a good secretary--a nice, green, innocent,
stupid, honest young fellow--that's what we want. If we could pick up
one of that sort, there's no doubt of the thing working."

Mr Durfy started and coloured up, and then looked first at Mr Medlock
and then at Mr Shanklin.

"What's the matter? Do you think _you'd_ suit the place?" asked the
former, with a laugh.

"No; but I know who will!"

"You do! Who?"

"A young puppy under me at the _Rocket_?" said Durfy, excitedly; "the
very man to a T!" And he thereupon launched into a description of
Reginald's character in a way which showed that not only was he a shrewd
observer of human nature in his way, but, when it served his purpose,
could see the good even in a man he hated.

"I tell you," said he, "he's born for you, if you can only get him! And
if you don't think so after what I've said, perhaps you'll believe me
when I tell you, on the quiet, he knocked me down in the gutter this
very evening because I wanted to carry off a young convert of his to
make a night of it at the Alhambra. There, what do you think of that?
I wouldn't tell tales of myself like that for fun, I can tell you!"

"There's no mistake about that being the sort of chap we want," said Mr
Medlock.

"If only we can get hold of him," said Mr Shanklin.

"Leave that to me," said Mr Durfy; "only if he comes